ARLINGTON, VA – It’s easy to become numb to the
over-polished signaling that often passes as discourse in Washington, but
sometimes reading things closely reveals interesting nuggets that show how an
official is weighing a decision or perceiving an issue.
Example: an exchange between FDA Commissioner Robert Califf
and Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin at a recent Agricultural Appropriations
Subcommittee hearing. Baldwin chairs the Senate subcommittee that sets spending
levels at FDA -- the sort of thing that would make an FDA commissioner pay
attention. And when she asked him for his thoughts on how plant-based beverages
that masquerade as dairy products should be labeled, he noted that when people
think about dairy vs. plant-based beverages, they “are not very equipped to
deal with what’s the nutritional value” of the products.
In other words, confusion over the nutritional values of
dairy versus plant-based beverages is real.
This isn’t the first time an FDA commissioner has
acknowledged the problem of nutritional confusion, which has gained attention
well beyond the dairy farmers who create high-quality nutrition every day. From
the American Academy of Pediatrics to the School Nutrition Association and
others, concerns over the public-health impacts of consumers substituting dairy
with nutritionally inferior plant-based products are widespread and
well-known.
That’s why Califf’s predecessor, Dr. Stephen Hahn, said in
his confirmation hearing that “clear, transparent, and understandable labeling
for the American people” was necessary “so that they can make the appropriate
decisions for their health and for their nutrition.” That’s why Hahn’s
predecessor, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, expressed concern that consumers were being
“misled” by plant-based beverages and asked whether consumers “who are using
plant-based milk products by seeing the word 'milk' imputing a certain
nutritional value into that beverage that they're not deriving?”
And that’s why Gottlieb’s predecessor, who was … wait.
Gottlieb’s predecessor was Califf. But you get the picture.
The problem of nutritional confusion, also borne out by
consumer surveys, isn’t even controversial at FDA, at least not among its
political leadership. The only thing that’s been controversial, apparently, is
FDA staff doing something to address the problem. But hope springs eternal, as
well as opportunities for action. With long-promised guidance on dairy terms
and plant-based beverages due this summer, federal policy has a chance to align
with the words of its top officials, by finally creating the labeling integrity
consumers deserve.
Doing the wrong thing – essentially preserving the Wild West
status quo of plant-based peddlers flouting the FDA’s own rules – will mean
little, as federal courts have ruled that guidance policy pronouncements can’t
replace regulation, and at the root of current regulation is FDA’s own standard
of identity, which clearly identifies milk (the building block of all dairy
products) as an animal product.
But doing the right thing – advocating for consumers,
promoting transparency in labeling and reinforcing the nutritional importance
of those standards – would help restore FDA’s credibility as a consumer
advocate and its reputation for public health leadership. And let’s face it,
FDA isn’t having the easiest time these days.
The path is clear. The door is open. All FDA needs to do is
walk through it and fix what its leaders already know is a problem. And we know
they know it. Because they’ve said it themselves.